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VConnecting is a connectivist learning movement [5]. Using synchronous video technology, VConnecting hosts informal conversations between people who are attending academic conference onsite and people who are unable to attend. These conversations are livestreamed and recorded. We call these “hybrid conversations” since we seek to give equitable weight to onsite and virtual participation. VConnecting's purpose is to extend the onsite conversation, allowing the marginalized voices of those who are not present to participate (such as adjuncts, unaffiliated academics, graduate students, parents of young children, people with health issues, Global South scholars, or others who cannot regularly travel to conferences), while also allowing those who cannot attend an opportunity to network and learn from those who are present.

What we have learned about IEHospitality in hybrid spaces can be useful to other learning contexts. For example, those of us who teach online making aspects of equity and hospitality explicit within online group work, helps to prevent many of the common problems students face [15]. What volunteers learn and practice in VConnecting often transfers to our teaching and professional practice, a reminder how we can benefit greatly from using online learning techniques and technologies in our own learning first. In addition, buddies often gain social capital of their own through greater communication with each other and with guests who are often high-profile academics.